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Calls to shut Cambodian detention centres

Cambodia is being urged to shut eight detention centres where inmates are detained without conviction and allegedly tortured.

The detention centres are said to be for drug rehabilitation.

But Human Rights Watch's health and human rights director Joseph Amon says the centres are full of so-called "undesirables" like homeless people, sex workers and people with disabilities.

"They are not given a formal arrest, they're not brought in front of a judge, they have no right to a lawyer, there's no appeal," he told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific.

"They're swept up off the street, because they're undesirable, not the picture of Cambodia that the government wants to give off when there's an international meeting or there's high level delegates in the country."

"There's just terrible conditions generally and there's also forced labour, so people are made to work.

"None of these are legitimate medical treatment for drug use."

Human Rights Watch is calling on international donors to Cambodia to review their positions.

It says the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have helped fund the Cambodian National Police (CNP), which runs two of the detention centres.

"Funding and subsidising the agencies within the country that are running these terrible centres allows the Cambodian government to continue the status quo," Mr Amon said.

In an email statement to the ABC, the Australian Federal Police says it "does not fund, nor is directly or indirectly involved with the Cambodian detention centres", adding that the AFP observes human rights in all of its activities overseas.

It also says it focuses on "police-to-police liaison targeting all transnational crime types with a majority of activity focused on narcotics, child-sex tourism, human trafficking, fraud and people smuggling."

The AFP also says its support to the CNP is "provided on the basis that it is in accordance with the law and consistent with international obligations."